The Sacrifice
by fangs.number1.fangirl
Summary: The flock has encountered a new villain, and something completely unthinkable threatens to tear their family apart. But Max will do anything to save her flock. And she will do anything to save Fang.
1. Chapter 1

The tension in the room could be tangibly cut with a butter knife. Fang stared at me from across the room, his dark obsidian eyes boring unabashedly into mine. My cheeks flushed with red fire, and I smiled.

Meanwhile, my mother was giving an important presentation for the CSM, and everyone was riveted besides Fang and I. We were completely focused on each other. No one seemed to notice us though, which was perfectly fine with me. It wasn't like we were doing anything bad – just staring longingly at each other from across the room. Admittedly, I would much rather be doing more than that. _Much _more than that, to be frank. And I could tell in Fang's eyes that he did too. I had to find some way to be alone with him somehow. It didn't seem so impossible. Did it?

Angel nudged me, making me jump. I blushed deeper and looked down at my hands, folded tightly in my lap. Angel threw me a knowing glance.

"Your mom's going to dismiss everyone for refreshments in five minutes," she whispered to me out of the side of her mouth. "Go then. I'll cover for you."

My eyes widened in surprise. "Uh, thanks," I whispered back. We received a few sharp glances from some of the CSM big shots, but other than that our conversation went unnoticed by everyone but Fang.

_Five minutes, _I told myself. _Just five minutes. _

It was the longest five minutes of my life.

When my mother finally dismissed us all to the refreshments table, I tried not to make it look too obvious. But I apparently failed, because a few people laughed when I immediately jumped out of my seat in excitement. Fang rose from his more slowly, casually. Of course. Because he was Mr. Suave. He threw me a smirk and a teasing glance, and I stuck my tongue out at him. He winked back at me.

I blended in with the crowd and melted out the door, excusing myself to go to the bathroom. When I was in the hallway and out of sight, I opened the nearest door and stepped inside the room. It was an empty conference room. I leaned against the table and waited impatiently, tapping my foot on the floor. A few moments later, Fang entered the room. He locked the door behind him.

We basically attacked each other. All he had to do was take one step and I was in his arms. He kissed me slowly and sensually, in a way that set my entire being on fire. He lifted me onto the conference table, and he leaned forward, pushing me until my back rested against the table. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and kissed him with everything I had. I shivered in pleasure as Fang ran his fingernails slowly down my spine, right between my wings. It was heaven. Pure heaven.

Eventually, we had to stop for breath. He moved his mouth to my neck so I could breathe, and I twined my hands in his soft black hair.

"I've been waiting to do this all day," I whispered into his ear.

"Me too," he admitted, taking my earlobe between his teeth. I let out a breath and wrapped my legs around his waist, attaching myself to him.

"I love you."

"I love you too," I breathed, burying my face into his shoulder as he continued to scratch my back. He planted soft, sweet kisses on my neck and worked his way up the length of my face. My jaw line to my cheek, my cheek to my lips. When he brushed his lips against mine, it was very brief and very chaste and very sweet. So much different than the, uh . . . well, the more rougher kisses we usually exchanged.

After that, we moved from the top of the conference table to a chair. I sat in his lap and he just held me against him, stroking my hair. It was really nice to just sit there with him and feel him touching me. It was sweeter than anything I'd ever experienced before.

"I wonder when they're gonna come searching for us," I eventually said, playing with Fang's hand. I spread out his fingers and carefully examined each one of them, gently caressing the scars and calluses there.

He shrugged and kissed the top of my head, twirling a lock of my hair in his free hand. "Maybe they won't notice we're gone."

"Fat chance," I replied, although the idea was enticing.

"Should we go back?" he asked.

"Not just yet," I said. "Let's just stay here for a few more minutes."

"You got it," Fang said, resting his chin on my head.

I would've been happy to stay there forever with him and just enjoy it. But of course, something terrible had to happen. Because I'm Maximum Ride, and my life is anything but normal.

Can you guess what happened?

If you guessed 'Something evil suddenly attacked the building and everyone in it and the flock had to save the day – but they didn't get to save the day, because they got captured', then you guessed correctly.

So here's how it went: Fang and I were sitting there, enjoying each other's company, when suddenly the whole building shook like there was an earthquake or something. For the first few seconds, I hoped that's what it was. But an earthquake would be too easy. It had to be something worse.

The building shook so hard that Fang and I were rattled out of the chair. I landed on my butt on the floor, bumping my head on the table on the way down, which juggled my brain around a little bit. I could literally _feel _it move. Not pleasant.

Anyway, Fang stood up against the shaking and offered me his hand. He helped me up, and I held tight to his hand and tried to open the door.

"What do you think it is?" Fang shouted over the rumbling noise.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say something _not good._"

He rolled his eyes at me. "Obviously."

We made our way back to the room where the CSM meeting was going on, somehow managing to keep our footing while the building was shaking vigorously.

Inside, we found chaos.

Chairs were knocked over, papers were scattered all over the floor, and everyone was shouting, trying to hold onto something steady. I looked around for the flock. Angel was trying to get some order, suggesting that everybody should move out of the room. But no one was listening.

"_HEY!" _I shouted as loud as I could. It got more than a few people's attention. "EVERYONE CAREFULLY MOVE OUT OF THE ROOM! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THE BUILDING!"

It worked. Everyone started to move towards the door, so Fang and I had to get out of the way. We were smushed against the wall as the CSM members and various others crowded into the hallway and headed for the elevators.

"NO! TAKE THE STAIRS!" I shouted. "STAIRS ARE SAFER!"

A few people heard my warning and took the stairs instead. I decided it was the best I could do.

"Max!" a familiar voice shouted, and I turned to see my mother, waiting for me by the entrance to the stairs. She was holding onto the doorknob with her life.

"You go!" I shouted back. "We'll be fine! I promise!"

After a worried look at me, she nodded and disappeared behind the door to the stairs. I really, really hoped everyone would get out okay – we were only on the third floor, if I remembered correctly, so I was hoping it wouldn't be too difficult.

I rushed back inside the room and found the flock all at the window.

"Get away from there!" I shouted, rushing towards them. "It could shatter at any minute!"

"Max, I think you should see this," Nudge said, turning wide, scared brown eyes on me.

That's when I knew that it definitely wasn't an earthquake. That's when I knew that it was Something Much Worse.

I stumbled toward the window, keeping a death-grip on Fang's hand.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Angel said, her eyes widening in fear. "They're so . . ."

"_Gross," _Nudge supplied.

I reached the window and looked down.

An army of Hulks surrounded the building.

At least, that's what they looked like. Minus the green skin and purple shorts. But some of them did have black hair. And all of them were _very_ big, _very _scary, and _very _grotesquely muscular. Their skin wasn't green, but it was mottled and bruised in some places. I could physically _see _each vein that stuck out. Their heads were not in proportion with their bodies, which made it kind of funny, but it was still gross looking. The faces were tiny, but the foreheads were huge and stretched out and gross. It was like their brain was overly expanded and it couldn't really fit inside their heads.

Another funny thing I found besides the disproportionate heads: on top of those heads, each monster had a silky thatch of Justin Bieber hair, before he cut it and started using hair gel.

"What _are _those things?" Gazzy said, staring down at them in wonder.

"Not sure," I replied. "I haven't figured out a name for them yet. But they need to lay off the steroids for sure."

All the Hulk-Bieber monsters had each of their two hands on the building, which I assumed explained the shaking. And they were also blocking the doorway, which made it impossible for anyone to get out.

Great.

"We have to fly out," I said. "It's the only way."

"What are we gonna do, smash through the window?" asked Iggy, turning his eyes to a spot just to the right of my head.

"We might have to."

"Uh, guys?" Nudge suddenly piped up, her voice rising in fear. "I don't think the window-smashing is gonna be a problem."

She pointed to one of the Hulk-Biebers. He had seen us through the window somehow, because he was staring right at us. Correction: he was staring right at _me. _And he held a giant boulder in his hand.

"_DUCK!"_

The boulder smashed through the window just as everyone hit the ground, flat on our stomachs. I hope everyone had the sense to cover their face. Our arms and legs would get cut up bad enough from the flying glass. I could feel myself bleeding even as I thought about it.

The boulder sailed over our heads, missing us by mere centimeters, and crashed into the wall opposite the room. No, crashed _through _the wall. And four more walls after that.

"Report!" I shouted over the ringing in my ears. The boulder had made a crash like a cannon blast.

"I'm good," Angel said, shakily standing up. "Bleeding in a few places."

"Same here," Nudge replied, taking Angel's hand to help her up. I checked Gazzy and Iggy – they were fine other than small cuts on their arms. I was pretty much fine myself, and – thank God – so was Fang.

I peeked over the edge of the broken window. It didn't look like the Bieber Hulks were going to throw another boulder at us. They seemed distracted by something down below.

I wasn't about to stick around to find out what it was.

"Move back as far as you can, and run. We're getting out of here," I told my flock, already moving to the back of the room. They followed my lead. Fang went first, jumping out the window and unfurling his beautiful black wings with the grace of a panther. Gazzy followed, then Iggy, then Nudge and Angel. I was last. The Bieber-Hulks were tall, and we were only on the third floor of the building, so the tips of my sneakers brushed one of their silky heads when I jumped out. I thought he was going to reach up and snatch my ankle, dragging me down, but he didn't even feel me touch him. I soared way up over their heads, and my flock and I circled above them. I tried to think of an attack plan.

"We need to get them away from the doors," I said. "We need to get everyone out of the building."

"I'll distract them," Fang immediately volunteered. "You guys focus on getting everyone out safely."

I was about to shake my head no, but one look at his obsidian eyes stopped me. We stared at each other for a moment, communicating silently with each other. He nodded once at me.

"Okay," I forced myself to say. "Fang, you be the distraction. Do whatever it takes to get them away from the building. Iggy and Gazzy, you take the back exits. Get everyone as far away from here as you can, wherever is safest. Nudge and Angel, you take the front with me. Angel, I'm gonna need your help keeping everyone under control."

"Got it," Angel nodded, her blue eyes full of resolve.

"When the situation is under control, everyone meet at the top of that building," I said, pointing to the roof of a random nearby skyscraper. "Call for help if you need it."

Everyone nodded. A sinking feeling started deep in the pit of my stomach. This wasn't going to end well. I could feel it.

I looked at Fang once more. We shared a look of understanding. I just hoped it wasn't about to be our last.

"Ready, break!" I shouted, clapping my hands, and my flock flew off in different directions. Fang dive-bombed towards the Bieber-Hulks, war-whooping the entire way. The not-so-smart creatures were easily disoriented. They tried swatting at Fang like he was an annoying fly, but Fang stayed just out of their reach, twisting and turning in the air.

Iggy and Gazzy swooped behind the building towards the back exits, and Angel, Nudge and I barreled downwards. Fang was leading the Bieber-Hulks away from the building. We had a small opening at the front.

Nudge, Angel and I landed at the entrance and began leading people out of the building.

"Everyone stay calm!" I shouted, directing traffic. "Get to safety, quickly!"

I didn't see my mother in the throng of people rushing out of the building, and I could only hope that Iggy and Gazzy were getting her safely out the back.

Angel was using mind control on some of the more spasmodic people, calming them down and leading them to safety. Nudge was . . . well, being Nudge. She was chattering away at the people she was helping, taking their minds off of the huge monsters just ten feet away. I was barking out orders at people, trying to be as nice as I could about it. But some people were just so stubborn. A few of them stayed inside the building in fear, and I was trying my hardest not to scream at them. Didn't they see that their lives were in danger?

"Come on!" I shouted. "Everybody out! Get somewhere safe! Hurry!"

Suddenly, I felt a small sharp pain in my back. I cried out and crumpled to the ground, my body suddenly numb. I couldn't feel a thing. In my peripheral vision, I saw Angel and then Nudge drop.

My vision started to go fuzzy. I called out Fang's name as everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up in a dark, cold, metal room, and I was chained to a wall.

Beside me, the members of my flock were chained up as well. Well. Almost everyone, I realized with a giant crack in my heart.

Everyone except Fang.

"Where are we?" Iggy asked, stirring from unconsciousness. "What happened?"

"I don't know," I said helplessly. "I just felt a pain in my back, and then I went numb and couldn't see anything anymore."

"I think they were poison darts," Angel offered, wriggling and trying to get out of her chains. "That's what it felt like, anyway."

"I think you're right," I said, wincing at the small pain in my back that still remained.

"Where's Fang?" Nudge muttered, looking around the room sleepily. My heart broke again.

"That's what I'd like to know."

"Did they get him or did he get away?"

"He was the only one of us in the air," I said. "I hope he got away."

But something in my heart knew that he'd been captured.

"What are we gonna do?" Nudge asked. "We have to get out of here. We have to."

"I know, Nudge," I said. "I'm thinking."

I looked around the metal room. It was completely empty except for a small video camera in the top right corner of the wall, with a red light that indicated it was on.

"We're being watched," I said. "There's not much we _can _do."

"We have to try, at least," Angel said determinedly, setting her jaw with steely resolve. She pulled at her chains, trying to yank them out of the wall, but her strength wasn't enough. I tried pulling at my own chains, but nothing was working. We were trapped.

"How long do you think they're gonna keep us here?" asked Gazzy, leaning his head back against the metal wall. I shook my head.

"I have no clue, Gaz."

"Well-" Iggy started, but he was cut off when the door to the metal room suddenly opened.

And Fang was pushed in by two beefy Bieber-Hulks, his arms held behind his back.

One of the monsters held a knife to his throat.

I growled in fury and struggled against my restraints, an expression of pure rage on my face.

"Let go of him," I demanded.

"They're not authorized to do that," someone said, and a moment later an unfamiliar man in a white coat walked into the room. "Only I can authorize them."

"Then authorize them," I said.

The man smiled at me, and a cold shiver went down my spine.

"My name," he said, "is Dr. Leslie Gorman. And I am your worst nightmare."

I laughed. "First of all, I didn't ask for your name, _Leslie_." Iggy and Gazzy snickered. "And second of all, egocentric much? I don't know how many people I've met that has claimed to be my worst nightmare. Every villain I've faced is about as scary as an angry kitten. What makes you think you're any better?"

Leslie gestured to the Bieber-Hulks. "I created these beautiful creatures," he said with a proud smile.

"Aww," I drawled. "Proud Papa."

His smile faltered, and he stepped towards me with his hand raised like he was going to slap me. I turned my face to the side and braced myself for the slap.

What I wasn't prepared for was how much it was going to hurt.

"You'll learn not to be so ignorant," Leslie said, stepping away from me. My cheek burned red with the mark of his hand. The slap had definitely cracked a few bones in my neck and jarred my teeth a little bit. I could even taste blood in my mouth. Leslie was _strong. _

"That's what they always say," I said. "And yet I never learn."

"If you don't learn, you'll be killed," Leslie said with a casual shrug of his shoulders, and Fang growled menacingly. The Bieber-Hulk with the knife pressed the tip into his throat, and I gnashed my teeth when I saw the drop of blood appear.

Leslie smiled. "Or we'll kill your boyfriend."

"Do that, and I swear to you I will tear you limb from limb," I threatened.

"We'll help," Gazzy piped up, and I saw each member of my flock nod in turn. I almost smiled. My little brave babies, stepping up to the plate. I couldn't have taught them better.

"I'd like to see you try," Leslie said.

"You don't want to challenge me, Leslie," I replied, shaking my head. Every single member of my flock, including Fang, shook their heads along with me in agreement.

Leslie smiled. "Max," he said. "You are truly an amazing specimen."

I shrugged. "I try."

"Your strength and your will and your determination are unbeatable," Leslie complimented, stepping closer to me again. He examined me carefully. "They did quite a good job with you. I commend Dr. ter Borcht and Mr. Batchelder for their excellent work."

At the sound of Jeb's name, I grimaced.

"Ter Borcht?" Iggy repeated. "That name sounds familiar."

"It should be," I said. "He was the guy with the accent, remember? He created us."

"Oh yeah!" Gazzy exclaimed. "_I vill now eat nine Snickers bahz. Visout bahfing._"

I chuckled. "Yeah, that guy."

"He was a meanie," Nudge supplied.

"Aren't they all?" I said.

Leslie stepped back, a frown on his face. "Your sarcasm, however, seems to be a problem. We'll have to change that."

I laughed. "HA! I'd like to see you try!"

"Seriously, good luck with that," Fang said from where the Bieber-Hulks were keeping him contained in their beefy arms.

"You'd have to be a miracle-worker to get rid of Max's sarcasm," Gazzy said. "Or Jesus."

"Please," I said. "Not even Jesus can take it away."

"Enough!" Leslie shouted angrily, and my flock fell silent. Leslie stepped toward me again, beet red in the face with anger. "In just a few moments, you and the rest of your flock will be taken for testing. Your strengths and weaknesses will be determined from these tests. Then, you will each be administered a shot of Mesonox." He smiled, and a cold chill went down my spine.

"I don't want to know what that is, do I?" I asked. He shook his head, the smile never faltering.

"No, you don't. But I'll tell you anyway. Mesonox is a serum we've been working on that, if used correctly, could increase the individual's strength, speed and overall stamina by a hundredfold."

"And if not used correctly?" Iggy dared to ask.

Leslie flinched in annoyance. "The individual could go insane. Mesonox contains a dangerous chemical that alters the framework of the brain. It's a tic we're trying to work out."

"And who is 'we'?" I demanded. "Who do you work for?"

The smile disappeared, and he leaned towards me again. "I work for no one. This is my company. I'm the one running the show."

"Where are we, anyway?" Nudge asked. I mentally slapped myself for not asking that question sooner. I desperately needed to know so I could figure out a way out of this mess. Knowing where we were was my first priority.

Leslie smiled again. "That, my dear, is classified. We wouldn't want our little birdies to fly away, would we?"


	3. Chapter 3

They took Angel first.

The hardest part was watching them handcuff, gag and blindfold her. They held back her wings to make sure she wouldn't try to fly away as they forced her off the ground. One of the Bieber Hulks prodded her back with a sharp rod when she refused to walk, and she yelped in pain. They took my baby away for whatever God-awful tests they had planned for her and shut the door loudly behind them.

The Bieber Hulks had slumped Fang against the wall opposite ours and chained him down, too. It was agony not being able to touch him.

"What did they do to you?" I asked when it was just me and my flock. I couldn't bear to know, but I had to.

"I was blacked out for most of it," he said, fixing his obsidian eyes on mine. "Don't remember much."

"Did it hurt?" I whispered.

He shrugged and smiled bravely, trying to hide his pain from me. I managed a smile back.

"I love you," I mouthed to him. He mouthed it back.

The hours while we waited for Angel's testing to finish were agony. It was the worst when I could hear her screams. I strained against my restraints on the wall, trying with all my might to break free. But this room was built to keep us in. We were trapped here.

We started to get hungry. They wouldn't feed us or give us anything to drink, and our stomachs were growling. I was getting exhausted trying to break free. Gazzy tried to amuse us by using his special talent of imitating people's voices. First he did Morgan Freeman, which I have to say was pretty entertaining. I mean, it's Morgan Freeman. But after the third Britney Spears song, things started to get pretty bad for us bird kids. We yelled at nothing and pounded on the walls, demanding to be let out. A few times the Bieber-Hulks came in and threatened us, but they didn't bring Angel back in and we didn't see Dr. Leslie again. My worry for Angel was through the roof. God only knew what they were doing to her, and I couldn't wait to get out of here and bust their chops for hurting my baby.

My anger was rising with each second, and my flock could tell.

"Uh-oh," Nudge said after a few hours. "Max has her angry face on."

"I thought that was just her normal face," Gazzy said, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"They all look the same to me," Iggy said, and I had to smile at that one. Even Fang cracked a grin.

I let out a deep breath and leaned my head against the wall. "We're gonna get out of here, guys."

"How?" asked Nudge. "I mean, I really want to get out too, but I just don't see any possible solutions. I mean, if we-"

"Nudge," I stopped her before she got too far into babbling mode. She shut up. "I don't know how we're getting out just yet. But we. Are getting. Out."

The plan came to me spontaneously.

It was when the Bieber-Hulks came back in, this time – thankfully – towing Angel with them. My heart broke at the sight of her. She was battered and broken, and she could barely stand on her own two feet. Her face was bruised, she had bandages over her arms, and her wings were dirty. A few primary feathers were missing.

I got even angrier over how carelessly the Bieber-Hulks tossed her around. They shoved her to the ground and handcuffed her to the wall again, kicking her when she wouldn't sit up straight.

"Hey!" Gazzy shouted. "Don't kick her like that!"

One of the monsters got close into his face, but Gazzy wouldn't budge. He stared the Bieber-Hulk in the eyes with steely resolve. My pride soared.

"You," the other monster said, pointing at me. "You next."

One of them unchained me, keeping my arms locked behind my back. I shot a glance at Fang, and he nodded. On the count of three.

One.

Two.

"Three!" I shouted, and I kneed the monster behind me in the groin. I didn't know if that would actually work, but he crumbled like coffee cake to the ground. The other monster tried to take me down, but I whirled and landed a roundhouse kick to his face. The others couldn't do much from their chained positions, but they cheered me on heartily.

"Max, I think you got them," Fang said just as I was about to land another kick on one of the Bieber-Hulk's faces. "Get us out of here before they find out."

I paused, my boot above the monster's nose, and nodded. I searched their bodies for a key, anything that might get us unchained. After some rigorous searching, I finally found a small silver key wedged tightly into a small pocket in one of the monsters' pants. Praying that it was the right one, I tried it on Fang's restraints.

It worked.

He rubbed his wrists as I worked on Angel's chains, Iggy's, then Gazzy's, then Nudge's. Once we were all up, I cracked my knuckles angrily.

"Let's go kick some Bieber-Hulk ass."


	4. Chapter 4

I let out a battle cry as we ran into the hallway, not even bothering to try and be stealthy. Immediately, whitecoats' heads swiveled in my direction. They charged us, but we were faster.

"Up and away!" I shouted. Luckily, the ceiling was high enough for us to actually attempt it. I could feel my flock flying behind me. We dodged hands as they reached up to try and grab our ankles, kicking them away. I couldn't afford to feel guilty when I heard the bones in their wrists snap.

"Find Leslie!" I shouted to my flock. "We're bringin' this whole enchilada down!"

Normally I would just fly out of there and get my flock to safety, but I was thirsty for vengeance after what they'd done to Fang and my Angel. I wanted to find Dr. Leslie and kick the wits out of him.

We flew through the hallways, ignoring the angered shouts that came from below us. At least they weren't aiming guns at us or anything. And there were no signs of the Bieber-Hulks either. I didn't know if that was good or bad.

"Max!" Angel shouted. "Over here!"

I stopped and circled back around to where Angel was flitting around in the air, trying to evade the whitecoats that jumped up to grab her. Gazzy was at her back, kicking her assailants away. Angel was peering into the glass rectangle above the door she was in front of and pointing. "In there!"

I kicked the door down before she had time to say anything else. We barreled inside, startling the whitecoats who had been working in there. The first thing I noticed was that it smelled _nasty. _When I looked around me, I realized why.

This must be the room where they assembled the Bieber-Hulks.

The process was gruesome and terrifying. I won't scar you with the nightmarish details, but let me just say that those monsters didn't start out like that. They started out as humans. As soon as the whitecoats had their way with them, their humanity was taken from them in the grossest way possible. It involved a lot of slime and a lot of screaming in pain and a lot of horrible, agonizing sounds that I really hoped I would never hear again in my life.

I almost threw up at the sight of it. But I was stronger than that. I turned away from the gruesome mess and looked around the room, searching for Dr. Leslie.

"I thought you might somehow manage to escape."

The voice had me looking up, just a few feet above where we were circling the room. A metal catwalk was suspended from the ceiling, and on it, Dr. Leslie was standing, a smug smirk on his face. I balled my hands into fists.

"You," I said.

"Me," he replied. "Good job, Max. I'm truly impressed. I never expected you to get past my soldiers, but you exceeded all expectations."

"Soldiers?" I spat bitterly. "Is that what you call them?" I gestured down below to the once-humans groaning in pain.

"Soldiers," he repeated. "They will be great assets to the U.S military, don't you think?"

I laughed. "You're crazy."

"Not crazy. Just advanced."

"Is that what they're calling it now?"

Leslie's smile faltered, and suddenly he pulled out a tranquilizer gun from behind his back.

My flock scattered. Leslie fired away, trying to aim for our unprotected backs. I tried to lead my family towards the door we'd come through, but we were too slow. The fresh batch of Bieber-Hulks that had been recently created swarmed us, attacking us. My heart shattered into a thousand pieces as I saw Fang go down, a tranquilizer dart in his back.

"NO!" I screamed, shooting down after him. I caught him in my arms before he hit the ground. I looked back up at Leslie. He was grinning maliciously.

"Your turn," he said, and he aimed the gun at me.

I closed my eyes and curled my body protectively around Fang's before the world went dark for the second time today.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up from my forced nap and didn't know where I was, which is, you know, always a good thing. I sighed. This was getting exhausting.

The one thing I did happen to notice was that I was in a dog crate.

_Again. _

"Really?" I muttered to myself. "Couldn't find something a little more original, could you Leslie?"

By now I was so used to it that it didn't even faze me. I mean, yeah, the nightmares and the terrible images that came with being trapped in a tightly enclosed space were no fun, but it happens so often to us that I honestly shouldn't even be surprised anymore when it does.

Next to me, I could see Fang – thank every single deity ever – and on my other side, Angel. The others were across from us, still conked out from the tranquilizer darts. I was still feeling it, myself. They must've laced them with some pretty heavy stuff, because my eyes were drooping like crazy.

"Fang," I whispered quietly, so quietly that I was pretty sure no one else could hear it. You could never be too sure – our every word might be being monitored. But I had to know Fang was okay.

He opened his eyes and slanted them over to me. His face was gaunt and tired. He gave me one silent nod of his head, and I let out a breath of relief.

"How do we get out of here?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Still trying to come up with something."

He sighed softly. "Where did this Leslie guy even come from, anyway?"

"Not sure." Before he had showed up, our lives had been relatively quiet, and we had just gotten used to enjoying the privacy. We hadn't been attacked in months. It was running on a year now. Things had been great, up until this point. "He must've been hiding for a while," I said. "Preparing. Creating those monsters." I shivered, remembering the room where the Bieber-Hulks were put together.

"It'll be okay, Max," Fang said, and I looked over at him, my heart racing when our eyes made contact. "I've got your back."

I smiled and stuck my fingers through the bars of my cage in a feeble attempt to reach him. He stuck his fingers through his own bars, and our fingertips just barely brushed. But just that tiniest touch seemed to bring more energy back into my body.

And suddenly, I had a plan.

I didn't know how much time had passed when someone came into the room. It wasn't Leslie and it wasn't one of his grotesque creations. It was just another whitecoat. He walked down the row of our cages and stopped in front of mine, bending down so he could see me. "Dr. Gorman wants to see you."

I was about to ask who Dr. Gorman was when I remembered that it was Leslie's last name. "Really? Me? I'm honored," I said.

The whitecoat frowned and unlocked my cage. I crawled out of it, stretching my legs when I stood up, feeling pins and needles rush through them. The whitecoat tried to take my hands and tie them behind my back. That was when I turned, delivering a hard, fast kick to his stomach. He landed on the ground with a surprised grunt.

I had him tied up in no time, gagged so he couldn't speak or call for help. I searched his pockets for anything he might use to alert the other whitecoats that we were trying to escape, but there was nothing.

As quickly and silently as I could, I unlocked the rest of the flocks' cages and let them all free. Angel ran forward and locked the door so that no one could get in. I put a finger to my mouth, gesturing for my flock to be quiet, and they all nodded solemnly as I looked up at the ceiling.

Fang pointed to the air vents. I nodded and stepped up on top of one of the dog crates so I could reach the vents. Fang helped me unscrew the lid quietly, and one by one, we helped the rest of our flock up into the vents. I jumped up after Nudge at Fang's silent insistence, and then helped him up after me.

"What now?" Iggy whispered quietly.

"We get out," I said. "Follow me."

My sense of direction was telling me that the exit was north, so we started crawling forward, deeper into the vents. We crawled on our bellies, silent as mice. The AC was on, and it was ice cold up here. No worse than that time we went to Antarctica. I could deal.

When we reached a grate that looked down into a room, I motioned for my flock to stay still and be completely silent. I looked down through the grate, picking up bits and pieces of conversation.

"They will be vital to our mission," a whitecoat said. I saw Leslie pacing the room, his hands clasped behind his back. My teeth clenched at the sight of him. "The bird children are extraordinary assets. If we could only make them understand how important they are to the cause, perhaps we could get them on our side."

"Unlikely," Leslie said. _You got that right, _I thought to myself. "Max is stubborn. She will not give in, no matter what methods we might use to persuade her."

He stopped pacing. "Unless . . . ."

The other whitecoat looked at him. "Unless what, sir?"

"Unless we take the boy. The tall, dark one."

My blood ran cold.

I looked behind me at Fang. His face showed no expression.

"We've already tried that, sir," the other whitecoat said. She sounded impatient.

"No, no," Leslie said, beginning to pace again. "We must try something different. Something much worse. Something that will make Maximum concede to our demands."

My breath started to become short.

"When I was testing him," Leslie said, "I gave him a shot of Mesonox. I didn't get a chance to see if it worked."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"The negative effects of the drug. If it worked properly, he would be one hundred times stronger, faster, more durable. But if something were to go wrong . . . ."

Fang would go insane. I remembered that much from what Leslie had told us about it.

I looked back at Fang again. His face was stone cold, and he shook his head at me.

I turned my eyes back to Leslie and the other whitecoat. I knew we shouldn't be wasting time, we needed to get out of here, but I was compelled to stay and figure out what they were going to do to Fang.

So I could kill them before they even got the chance to touch him.


End file.
